Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin speaks to the party’s central committee on Saturday, March 4, 2017, as part of his successful campaign for a fourth term as party chair. (Pioneer Press: David Montgomery)

HINCKLEY, Minn. — Minnesota Democrats re-elected a chastened Ken Martin to another term as party chair, after the longtime party leader admitted he had made mistakes that contributed to recent Republican victories.

“When I travel around the state, our party is literally dying,” Martin said. “We need to change that.”

He beat back a challenge from Donna Cassutt, the party’s former associate chair, in a race shadowed by the party’s divisions and defeats from 2016.

Cassutt withdrew before the results were announced, so a formal vote count wasn’t released. But Cassutt said it “wasn’t even close.”

In the 2016 election, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came closer than any Republican in decades to winning Minnesota. The DFL also lost control of the state Senate and lost seats in the state House.

Despite recent losses, member of the DFL’s state central committee voted to elect Martin to a fourth two-year term after he promised to invest more in a message and organization that could succeed in Greater Minnesota.

“I’m committed to doing exactly what Donna talked about, which is making sure our party is open to new voices,” Martin said after he won. “Working hand-in-glove together, we are going to win in 2018.”

CASSUTT: DON’T OVER-RELY ON POLLS, CONSULTANTS

Cassutt said the DFL under Martin had become too focused on the nuts-and-bolts of campaigning, including polling and raising money. She said the party needed to focus more on grassroots organizing.

“We can win back voters whose trust we’ve lost by actually listening to them rather than over-relying on polls and consultants and telling them we know better,” Cassutt said.

She also said the losses Democrats suffered in the 2016 election are a sign that the DFL needs a new direction.

MARTIN: DON’T THROW OUT BABY WITH BATHWATER

Martin acknowledged he had made mistakes as party chair, but said the party structure he’d overseen was valuable.

“We lost this last election not because of organization but because we didn’t have a message that resonated with voters,” Martin said.

He promised to work to develop that more compelling message while building on the existing party organization.

“We made mistakes this last cycle. There’s no doubt about it,” Martin said. “It’s not just Hillary Clinton’s fault. The key is to spend a little bit of time looking through the rear-view mirror, but don’t live in that space. We’ve got to start moving forward. To me, that’s what this (chair) election was about.”

Martin’s supporters said he had done a good job building the party. Ron Harris and several others said Martin had personally brought them into the party and served as a mentor.

“I don’t think it’ll do us any good to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said Harris, 27, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Minneapolis who was at the DFL meeting as a Martin supporter. “I think there are very specific things that Ken as a leader can do better. (But) there’s no one I trust more to guide our ship into the waters that we’re getting ready to face in 2018.”

HARD FEELINGS FROM CAUCUSES

Hanging over the chair race were echoes of the hard-fought 2016 Democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Martin, as party chair, supported Clinton’s campaign — but Sanders won Minnesota’s caucuses in a landslide.

Cassutt criticized Martin for that endorsement. She said neutrality was a better policy, and said Martin hadn’t been listening to the party base.

“We can, and frankly we must, rebuild the trust in the DFL by making sure our party leaders remain neutral in all party endorsing conventions and primaries,” Cassutt said.

Some of Cassutt’s supporters, such as Mary Jane LaVigne, 57, of White Bear Lake, said they were concerned that “Ken had really chosen his presidential candidate a little too early.”

Martin tried to defuse anger from any Sanders supporters. His campaign manager was Sanders’ caucus director, and he brought a video endorsement from U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a prominent Sanders supporter.

“It’s not ‘I supported her’ or ‘I supported him,’ ” Martin said in his speech, before calling for a new voter-focused message. “It’s time we stand up as DFLers and say we’re supporting them.”

David covered politics and government for the Pioneer Press from 2014 to 2017.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Government & Politics

With the appointment of Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to replace U.S. Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota will join five other states in being represented by two women senators. Smith and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will join the current female Senate duos of Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California and Jeanne Shaheen and Margaret Wood Hassan of New Hampshire. Kansas, Maine...

The Minnesota Constitution requires that when Tina Smith leaves, the president of the Senate takes the lieutenant governor’s role — and quits the Senate, Democrats say. But Republican Senate President Michelle Fischbach says she can do both.

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders on Wednesday agreed on a revised plan to cut taxes that would lower the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, and drop the top individual rate for the richest Americans to 37 percent, according to GOP senators and others briefed on the deal. The tentative accord marked a significant step in the GOP push...

Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to replace U.S. Sen Al Franken, who is resigning. Here are some reactions. U.S. SEN. AL FRANKEN “Tina Smith will make an excellent United States Senator. She is a dedicated public servant who’s worked tirelessly on behalf of Minnesotans, and Governor Dayton couldn’t have made a better choice for this...